Parking stories in the News/media

patient_dream

Coupon-mad said:

Anyone else suspect that the BPA's guiding hand might be pushing this carefully-timed Consultation?

This is one reason why the private parking regime should NEVER be aligned with Local Authority PCN levels:

There is no doubt the BPA are winding these people up

The problem the BPA has is that they are now so entrenched in extorting money they can no longer behave as professionals 

Castle

Coupon-mad said:

Anyone else suspect that the BPA's guiding hand might be pushing this carefully-timed Consultation?

This is one reason why the private parking regime should NEVER be aligned with Local Authority PCN levels:

Maybe a F.O.I request for correspondence between the BPA and the councils.

Coupon-mad

Coupon-mad said:

Sussex notorious ex-wheelclamping PPC pariahs One Parking Solution (aka 'One Language Solution'?) and the lack of Welsh language on signs and PCNs is a gift that keeps on giving:

Language campaigner due back in court after parking company fails to provide fine in Welsh

https://www.cambrian-news.co.uk/news/courts/language-campaigner-due-back-in-court-after-parking-company-fails-to-provide-fine-in-welsh-629681

Hope he gets awarded full costs.

This is interesting:

"In a similar case in Caernarfon recently, judge Mervyn Jones-Evans gave a verdict in favour of a defendant who refused to pay a parking fine that was served only in English, as monolingual notices are not sufficient to conform with schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012. The judge also declared a judicial notice that signs in every car park in Wales should be bilingual."

Good old DJ Jones-Evans at Caernarfon, who I am pretty sure (if it's the same Judge) used to strike cases out without a hearing due to abuse of process before some 'parking scam clueless' Circuit Judges who proved overly impressed by PPC legals talking crap at them on Appeal, stamped on that remedy. 

They think it's all over...it is now for the OPS Welsh language case:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-66398622.amp

So it turns out this final hearing about a Llangrannog PCN - was to hear an Application by OPS to set aside the previous judgment but their Application was refused and their barrister was told they'd applied using a rule that doesn't apply in small claims!

"In a bilingual hearing, Deputy District Judge Owen Williams said the application had been made on the basis of a rule that did not apply to small claims.

He told Richard Mullan, One Parking Solution's barrister, that he had been badly advised by the company's lawyer."

Coupon-mad

And take another bow, David Walsh:

https://www.thestar.co.uk/business/government-urges-sheffield-drivers-hit-by-unfair-and-costly-parking-charges-to-come-forward-4244035

He's like a Rottweiler v Excel Parking Services Ltd.

Now he has his teeth into getting people to respond (with your evidence) to the DLUHC's call for evidence.

Sheffield (and the UK) needs more clued-up journalists like him who understand why the DLUHC has called out private parking fees as 'extorting money from motorists' and that they are addressing a 'MARKET FAILURE'. 

Coupon-mad

Falkirk woman caught out by ParkingEye at a car park that advertised parking is FREE ON SUNDAYS:

The website stated:

“At Callendar Square, we have a multi-storey car park for our customers.The car park is available at a competitive rate, with FREE CAR PARKING ON SUNDAYS and is situated just next to the shopping centre."

https://www.falkirkherald.co.uk/news/people/sunday-parking-confusion-motorist-hit-with-ps100-fine-at-falkirk-car-park-after-believing-statement-on-website-4243094

Where's the EXTRA SIGNS in prominent places to explain the change, ParkingEye?

BPA - do you care?

Coupon-mad

BPA ANPR 'PCN churning machine' crap yet again, this time CEL furiously back-pedalling after bad publicity:

https://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/people/victory-for-residents-as-grossly-unfair-parking-fines-picked-up-attending-peterborough-dragon-boat-festival-cancelled-4243043

"Jason, along with his son, attended the festival on June 10 and were directed by marshals to park at the hotel’s car park.

Such were the crowds attending the event that there was between a 15 and 20 minute wait to use the machines to pay for parking.

This saw many fall foul of the car park’s rules which state that tickets must be purchased within ten minutes of arrival, a fact only found out by those who received a letter for the fine several weeks later."

Why the HELL didn't CEL and the Hotel plan ahead and suspend the ANPR for the event?  ANPR isn't fit for purpose in the hands of dodgy firms and their clueless clients.

I think the Government will realise that soon enough once the Scrutiny Panel gets a deluge of evidence.

patient_dream

Good for David Walsh:

There is a crystal ball that says that the SRS group will be banned by the DVLA for the second time but will be terminal

The same will apply to UKPC

Coupon-mad

This will go well for Meadowhall shoppers - NOT.  You can imagine who pushed for this moneyspinning idea:

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/meadowhall-parking-sheffield-shopping-centre-155255198.html

How exactly will arriving shoppers get and display a 'permit' in time if they have a pressing need to urgently feed or change their baby on arrival?

And don't even start on the lack of signs alerting people to the change.  How will people know.

And where do they get these stupid 'permits'?

And what if they slip off the dashboard?

Is it UKPC that infest this place?

"Drivers wishing to use Meadowhall's parent & child parking bays will now require a permit to do so, bosses have announced, to ensure they are available for those who really need them. Unauthorised users caught parking in the bays will be given a parking fine."

CLUELESS PARENTS STUPIDLY THINK THIS IS A GOOD IDEA.

They'll find out the hard way.

Half_way

It will be interesting to see who will be issuing the "parking fines" as clearly stated in the news article .

 On a personal level i have a distinct dislike for Parent and child spaces , as they take away the relevance/need for disabled spaces .

 One is a part of a reasonable adjustment under the Equality act, and the other is a gimmick.

 The problem is that when there is no P&C spaces/bays people will often think they are entitled to use the disabled bays / provision .

 Out of town shopping centres etc have existed since at least the 1960's and have all had busy car parks since the start, however only recently have we seen "parent and child" bays come into existence, oddly that also appears to co-incide with the rise of the PPC plague , the cynic in me thinks this is/was invented as a scheme to make money from parking charge notices with the added bonus of making people think they have an entitlement which they can get all angry about if its not there, or someone breaks the "rules" 

Coupon-mad

 On a personal level i have a distinct dislike for Parent and child spaces , as they take away the relevance/need for disabled spaces .

One is a part of a reasonable adjustment under the Equality act, and the other is a gimmick.

 The problem is that when there is no P&C spaces/bays people will often think they are entitled to use the disabled bays / provision .

Totally agree.  And 'enforcing' them as permit bays blurs the lines even more.

I predict we will see a LOT more imaginative 'permit schemes' in retail parks now that the DLUHC made the mistake of saying that 'not displaying a permit' (just like Motorway overstays - a really inappropriate one to be 'special') is £100 AIUI.  That is, if they stick with option 3 that I don't like.

They will hear all this from me.